Minneapolis awarded 2018 Super Bowl

NFL owners Tuesday awarded the league's Feb. 4, 2018, championship game to Minnesota, which beat out competing bids from Indianapolis and New Orleans.

Landing the 52nd Super Bowl for the Twin Cities and its weeklong festival of football and commerce was a major coup for Vikings owners Zygi, Mark and Leonard Wilf, who are in their 10th season as team stewards.

The Wilfs successfully lobbied the state legislature in 2012 for $498 million in taxpayer money to help build a futuristic $1 billion indoor stadium on the old Metrodome site. The yet-to-be-named venue was the centerpiece of Minnesota's bid, but local star power helped.